Skate fortwo was an ad created to celebrate the smart car's two seats. Featuring two skateboarders performing stunts on one board, the ad aired on YouTube in September before a two week run in cinemas across the UK. Here, Weapon7's Jason Cascarina and Antony McGinty, creative directors on the project, discuss the background to the ad, and how it was conceived, developed and executed.
The brief
We were asked to create a brand piece for smart, with a strong steer to turn a perceived weakness into a strength. The smart only has two seats; how could we celebrate this? We considered some key takeouts being that smart is fun and playful, yet at the same time, the result of methodical testing and rigorous engineering.
Initial idea
We generated all sorts of responses, but the one that seemed the most effortless involved two pro riders performing tricks on a tandem BMX. smart has always been about fun and excitement and this analogy dramatised a unique, exhilarating experience for two. It wasn’t something we’d ever seen before and we couldn’t find anything similar on the internet. We didn’t even know if it was achievable, but started looking for directors who could bring it to life.
Evolution
We tried the script with several production companies and they were all keen to take it on. Director after director enthused about the idea and went off to create treatments. This was where we hit something of a snag. One by one, each company called back to say they had contacted professional BMXers and all of them had said point blank that tandem tricks couldn’t be done.
Turning point
It came to the day before we needed to return to client with a treatment. The way things were looking, we would have to go back and say that, far from having a treatment, we couldn’t deliver the script. Some of the directors had suggested camera trickery and special effects to reproduce the action, but one of the key brand messages for smart is authenticity. We had to do this for real or not at all.
But that afternoon, we had two phone calls. The first was with a director who had tracked down someone who thought it might be possible. A conference call was organised with the rider, who took an hour out from rehearsing at the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Whilst cautious about how spectacular the tricks might actually turn out, the pro did give us some reassurance that we could get something interesting on film.
The second call was with Ben Newman from Pulse Films. He had been keen to film our script, but withdrawn after talking to the BMX community about the feasibility of the idea. However, he knew a pro skater called Kilian Martin and had chatted our concept over with him. Kilian had become very excited about the idea of two pros performing simultaneous tricks, but on a skateboard, as opposed to a tandem bike. Kilian really wanted to be involved himself and already had a big internet following for his astonishing floor skate videos (search YouTube: Altered Route). He thought a tandem skate film would be a radical new experience for both himself and the skate community, because it was something that had never been seen before.